Music

Bryce Vine is a perfectionist in the studio, but when it comes to the stage, he’s much less strict—in fact, even fucking up the lyrics (which happens rarely), doesn’t really bother him. At that point, it’s all on the table, and all that’s left to do is play. The track most in demand? Arguably “Drew Barrymore”, which, though it just dropped on September 8, is already experiencing viral requisition from fans and fam alike (he counts artists like G-Eazy, Hoodie Allen, Ludacris, and Sage The Gemini on a fire list of folks he’s toured and collabed with).

“Drew Barrymore” comes off of a larger project, dubbed Carnival, that Vine has no idea when he’ll drop (though it will be sometimes “soon”, i.e. whenever the R&B artist feels the time is right). Until then, dropping fun AF singles is his M.O. No complaints here.

I was just listening to “Drew Barrymore”—I guess it’s been out for a little bit now, but what has the reception been like so far?

Eyy. Yeah it’s definitely been great. It’s my fastest growing song so far, so that’s great. It’s getting playlisted…all the thing you want to happen to a song, is happening. The plays are going up, it’s good. It’s great. I just keep writing and don’t really focus on it too much.

Can you talk about what inspired you to write it?

Well it started, it was just a stream-of-consciousness kind of thing. I made the beat one day, or rather started the beat one day, and just started writing the verse, and just kept writing. A lot of what inspired it was a trip that I had taken to the Saguaro Hotel in Arizona, when I was touring one time. I had never been there, and it’s a particularly cool, colorful hotel, and I was just imagining a scenario like that. I don’t know. It was a weird start for a song, ‘cause it kind of came together super randomly.

When you’re writing, do you usually have a fully-formed idea and then go with it, or it more spontaneous?

No, it’s literally always different. Every single time. Sometimes I’ll think of a great melody for a verse and then try and build a beat from that, sometimes I’ll try and make a beat and think of a really cool verse but I can’t think of a chorus for months. It’s really always different. I take my time ‘cause I don’t really have a choice. I’m a little bit of a perfectionist.

Well that’s good, I think.

Yeah I guess so, I guess we’ll see.

And is the track off of a whole EP or album or what’s in the works?

Yeah, it’s called Carnival. I have no idea when I’m gonna put it out, yet. Definitely this year. I like releasing singles. It’s fun, always something new, I get to focus on one song that I think is good and give it to fans, and so far that’s working out.

Cool. And I know your tour starts in a couple weeks, too—are you all set for that?

Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. I love touring.

How’s the experience playing stuff live versus in a studio? Which do you prefer?

Oh, definitely playing live. Being in the studio can be really fun, and productive, and feel great when you have a song that’s coming along, but when you don’t, and you’re stuck, it’s tedious and frustrating and you have to wait days before things are right and sleep on it and sometimes you can work all day on a song and get nothing done. And it feels like you accomplished nothing. So performing songs that are finished is way more fun and rewarding than actually being in the studio. But it’s just a different process completely. It’s fun in its own way but it’s a lot more work being in the studio than being on stage.

As someone who’s a perfectionist, it doesn’t bother you that you only get one shot on stage with a song?

Oh no, it doesn’t matter. That doesn’t even come to my mind. I mean by the time I’m playing a song on stage, I’ve spent so much time on it, and worked on it so many times, I’ll still fuck up some of the lyrics sometimes, ‘cause I’m the only one singing and writing, so they’re hard to remember, but no. By the time it gets to the stage, I don’t worry about it.

Cool. So how long have you been in LA?

Well I grew up here for the most part, I was born in New York and my family moved out here when I was pretty young. So I was pretty much raised out here until college, I went to Berklee College of Music, and then I moved back after two years of being there. I didn’t graduate, I just took a music opportunity that came my way, that’s the way the world works, so I left school and for the last five years have just been working on my craft and working odd jobs until a few years ago when I stopped having to work and was just able to do music for a living.

What are you most excited for to finish out the year?

I’m excited to see how much this song grows. It’s important to not focus on it too much, ‘cause I’ve seen and toured with people who, you know, have one big song and then they’re stuck now chasing that. So I don’t want to focus on that. And I naturally don’t focus on it, but it’s a tough thing. You have to almost beat yourself, and I can imagine that the stress of that would make it a lot less fun. So I just want to keep enjoying writing. I love to do it, I love the people I work with and write with, I want to tour, I’ll hopefully be touring Europe in January with another artist, and I’ll be writing, and writing for other people. So always just doing things and keeping busy, traveling, playing shows, building the brand, slowly but confidently. And that’s it.